Tiny Token Empires (PSN)

When I first watched the trailer for Tiny Token Empires I honestly did not know what to make of it. I noticed that it seemed to feature some sort of "RISK" style of gameplay, but that it also featured some puzzle gameplay similar to that of various PopCap games. Needless to say it had me intrigued enough to want to see what it was all about. After contacting the French developer (BiP Media), and discussing the usual review arrangement I immediately got started on trying to figure the game out, so that I could relay what I found to you guys. Unfortunately as it sometimes goes with reviews I found myself not only struggling to understand the game, but I also found it damn near impossible to put what I was seeing into words. I knew I had my work cut out for me, and there was no doubt in my mind I'd be spending more time than usual learning the ropes of "Tiny Token Empires".

PESTER (XBLIG)

Earlier on this year, or late last year I decided to buy an indie shmup from the XBLIG marketplace with the spare 80 msp that I had left over. The shmup I speak of was titled "Super Killer Hornet", and it was developed by Flump Studios. It featured unique classic shmup (shoot 'em up) gameplay with an interesting mathematical power-up system. It was this math based feature that really caught my attention, and held it for quite some time. The math system had definitely added an edge that you would not expect from an arcade style shmup, and it seemed to fit in perfectly. For some reason though I totally lost track of the developer's name over the months, and thought that "Super Killer Hornet" would likely be this developer's only XBLIG release.

Thankfully though Flump Studios has made a return with a new shmup title, and they seemingly intend on bringing more innovative shmups to the XBLIG marketplace in the months to come. Today though I'll be reviewing a recently released Flump Studios shmup titled "Pester". Unlike the previous shmup title it pays homage to the classic arcade experience of old with numerous features, and modes that the older generation of gamers will be able to relate to.

KontrolFreek - Shields "Ammunition" (PS3)

I think it was either late last year, or earlier this year that I reviewed my first KontrolFreek products. I was truly impressed with the craftsmanship, the overall designs, and functionality of the "FPS Freek", and "FPS Havoc" controller enhancements. In fact I still use them to this day when gaming with my brothers in "Black Ops 2". The in-game improvements that these two products offered definitely showed throughout my product testing phase, and beyond. However good that may sound it is not the reason why I'm here today. It was recently announced that KontrolFreek was releasing a new line of controller add-ons to their online store, and I felt that these new products would be another noteworthy item worth featuring here on this blog. These latest add-ons, dubbed as "shields" were said to provide the gamer with a cleaner, more protected controller. In simple terms it's KontrolFreek's own unique take on controller decals.

The Injustice Lobo & Season Pass Farce

Okay. Prepare yourselves for some insane profanity pertaining to NetherRealm Studio's DLC fiasco. If Lobo were in my place I think he'd agree with what I'm about to say ...

This morning I woke up excited that Lobo, my favorite DC character of all time was going to be released as a new addition to Injustice's pathetic roster of spam fuckers. I loaded the disc in the Xbox 360 with anticipation of the justified havoc I was going to wreak upon unsuspecting online turds. When I arrived at the XBL add-on menu I noticed that there were some new skins available, and thought to myself, "Damn! This day could not get any better!". Since I bought the season pass I figured they'd include the skins like they did with MK9's season pass, but HELL NO!. Of course I'm jumping ahead of myself in mentioning that, so back to the Lobo discussion. I downloaded Lobo via the in-game menu, thinking that I may be charged for the DLC content if I didn't do it that way. Oddly enough I noticed during my downloading of Lobo that the skins were still listed for 240 msp each. I'm thinking "WTF!?". I then go about my merry fucking business continuing to watch Lobo download onto my console with the thought of "NetherRealm Studios just reamed me a new one, didn't they?" in the back of my mind.